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Iga Swiatek Rubbishes Consistency Claims as Tennis Gears up for Serena Williams-Dominated WTA Era Once Again

Published 04/19/2024, 2:46 AM EDT

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Iga Swiatek has been “pretty dominant” ever since she found her style on the court. Nobody had been able to dominate the WTA ever since Serena Williams’ era. However, it changed with Swiatek, who said she believes she, along with world number 2, has proven that the WTA is consistent when it comes to the big stage.

Swiatek recently played and won against Elise Mertens in the Stuttgart Open, her first match on clay in 2024. After a 6-3, 6-4 victory against the Belgian player, she was asked whether she believed she could take on a dominant role in the WTA’s future. The Polish player decided to answer the question with a question.  

Well, the question is if I already did that for past two years, because I feel like I have been pretty dominant.” She further believed that she is not alone when it comes to consistency, “Aryna has been, so we both kind of have shown that there is consistency on WTA.

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Swiatek also recalled the time when the same question was posed to her earlier in her career. “I remember when I was playing in 2020, 2021, I also got many questions about consistency, and I felt like some players, you know, have proven that it’s possible. So I already feel like I have been pretty dominant.”

The WTA had a dearth of consistency, with nine grand slam winners in the last three years. Moreover, after Williams defended her Wimbledon title in 2016, Swiatek was the first player to defend a grand slam in 2023, which was the French OpenSerena Williams became a testament to consistency as she defended 6 grand slam titles. Now, Swiatek is set to take mantle as she aims to become the current pillar of consistent grand slam titles.

While she believes she is consistent, there is still a long way to go as her career is still in its younger stages. “But we’ll see what next years are going to bring. There have been players that have been dominating throughout their whole careers, you know, and I’m still at the beginning. So there is still so much work to do.”

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The consistency question has been following Swiatek for quite some time now. Back in 2023, the 22-year-old had addressed the same topic during an interview.  

Iga Swiatek believes the WTA is ‘even more consistent than the guys’

Swiatek sat down in a post-match presser in 2023 to talk about how the pay gap between the ATP and the WTA can be fixed. As she shared her ideas of how the WTA can focus on bringing about the changes, Swiatek also touched upon the fact that many tennis followers believe that the WTA is not as consistent as the ATP.

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To that, she said, “There were a lot of people, for example a couple of years ago, who were saying that WTA that it’s not consistent and that’s a shame and it should be better, but right now basically I think, you know, we are even more consistent than the guys, you know, with our game.”

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With Swiatek and Sabalenka, one can see that women’s tennis is getting players who can keep a good hold on their game. Now, all we have to see is if the world number one can defend her title in Roland Garros.

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Written by:

Ripunjay Gaba

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Ripunjay Gaba, a tennis enthusiast-turned-journalist at EssentiallySports, found his way from freelance sports journalism to the publishing house in ES. Here, his writing canvas encompasses the game specifics while finding poetic resonance in covering major sporting events. Ripunjay, a perpetual upgrader, uses avid reading to bring varied flavor to his Tennis reporting.
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Edited by:

Tushhita Barua